Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1887-02-19
PIZARROlS POCKET.

PlZAkkVS PUCkEI.
We had been prospecting for silver in
Peru for ok months or more, and tho
boys were all getting dishsartened. Rival
companies were striking it rich every
where, but few seemed to have . steady run
Of bad luck. There were six Of Us, all
Americans. John Conway was our lead
ing spirit. He was old and gray, but tough,
wiry and alert. He had mined in Califor-
mia and Mexico with fair success, and it was
all on account Of his dazzling dream Of q
Peruvian bonanza that we were camping
out in the Atalpa mountains
Nothing could depress or daunt John
Conway. One day he said:
"Boys, the shakes we've had lately mean
something more than an ornary airthquick.
Prob'ly thar'n be q v~olcaner. It'll bust up
things pow'ful lively, but If you kin stand
the racket, it'll be all the better for u.
It'll az so much blasting, you know"
After that we concealed our fears, It We
had any. We caught something OF our
leaders, recklessness. Besides, we had passed
through too many earthquakes since We
had been in that region to care much about
them.
Accidentally, one day, 1made an en-
couraging discovery. I found an aban-
doned silver mine. It was evidently of great
depth and had been flooded, perhaps, for q
century or longer. The road leading to it
choked up with a heavy forest growth.
Conway was in q state Of feverish ex-
element when I took him to the place.
"Thar's millions of it down thar he
said, rubbing his hands. 'Thar's been mill
lions tuck out, but thar's millions thar yit."
I ventured to suggest that the mins had
been exhausted.
sob, I don't mean that pertickler hole"
he replied; II mean the stuff is here or
hereabou.s."
Conway paused a moment, and, after
looking s~earchingly at me, broke out again.
''Do you know what I'm looking fori"
'Silver," I answered in . matter of fact
way.
'Silver, be blowedi It's wuss'n silver.
I'm looking for Pizzarro's pocket"
"Whose pocket" I exclaimed.
"Ole Pts. Never hear Of Pizarro, the ole
rooster who used to rummage around here!''
Ignoring my friends frivolous familiar
ity with the great conqueror, I asked for an
explanation.
Just what Conway told me, will not bear
repetition here. When the story was told
to me as I sat under a cinnamon tree, chew
ing coca leaves, and watching the filmy
smoke that rose from the volcanic assures
on the mountain side, I was in the mood to
believe anything. When a man has q baby
volcano in front Of him, a coppery sky over
head, and q wilderness Of spices and flowers
all around him, nothing seems improbable.
Pizarro's pocket!
OF course l knew that the brutal soldier
of fortune had wrung fabulous millions out
of the unfortunate 1ncas and the helpless
Peruvians. I knew, too, that after the as
~sassination of Pizarro at Lima, his follow
ers wondered at the disappearance Of the
bulk of his treasures.
Now it was all explained. If the Indian
traditions that Conway had gathered up
were true, all the wealth of the famous cap
tain general was literally under our feet.
The great robber had deposited all his silver
and gold and diamonds in a cavern among
these hills, and, after sealing up the IN
trance, he had ba~rbarously murdered the
faithful artisans who had secreted the pre-
cious deposit.
As we reclined on the cinnamon bark,
and chewed the ~exhilarating coca, we
agreed that We would stand by each other
until we found Pizarro's pocket and emptied
it.
"Good Lordr' cried Conway, with .
troubled look, II clean forgot the princess"
"Do you mean to say that you have .
copper colored princess concealed about
here?" I asked.
"'Taint' nothing to make fun Of, - said my
companion. "She's a fine looking gal.
Jest wait till you see her. But the point Is
this. We've got to give the princess a
fourth of the plumber"
When we had talked it over, I saw the
justice Of the compact made by Conway.
The princess had become convinced that we
were on the right track, and that o or
later the treasure w,uld be ours. She had
voluntarily proposed q division of the
spoils, offering in return to give up the gold
en- secret which had been handed down in
her royal line for more than three centu-
ries. One of her ancestors, a powerful chief
tain and a mighty warrior, was the ruler Of
that province in the days Of Pizarro. The
Spaniard scattered his tribe and drove the
chieftain to a secure hiding place among
the hills, where from some point Of vantage
he watched the movements Of the men en-
gagged in burying the treasure. The gallant
Hatalka did not live to profit by his discov-
cry. In his dying moments he confided his
secret to his son, and thus it descended
through generation after generation Of the
Hatalkas.
"And the Princess Hatalka is the last Of
the line, is she?'' I inquired, when I had
heard the story.
eyes" replied Conway, land in her way
she is a beauty. She lives only a few miles
from here, and when we move our camp
down thar in the valley she will be likely to
visit us every day You see, this flooded
mine that you have found about settles the
business. It's the missing link. With what
we know and what the princess knows,
everything is as plain as daylight"
Being still a good deal in the dark, there
was nothing for me to do but to agree with
my leader, and we went back to our camp
in a very satisfactory frame Of mind.
Six Americans made q pretty strong
team, but when we moved our camp and
made preparations for the great work of
our lives we found it necessary to increase
our force. We had to send men 20 Lima
for tools and blasting powder and supplies,
and altogether it took about a dozen In
dams. These people were the best specimens
of their race I had ever seen. They were
not very dark, and they would have been
called handsome men anywhere. They
spoke Spanish well, and displayed a high
order Of intelligence.
The Princess Hatalka visited us the SEC
ond day after our arrival. She rode q
small Andalusian pony, and her grace in the
saddle attracted my attention the moment
I saw her.
I was d~umfounded to find that instead Of
a savage I saw before mt a very charming
girl of 10 or 20. She had a mobile brunette
face, with Grecian features, and the most
glorious eyes in the world. Her costume
was an old fashioned riding habit OF rich
materials. This was a matter of slight i'm
portance, however, as I knew that the fash
ions followed by the ladies Of Peru had not
been modified since their introduction by the
old Spanish viceroys two or three centuries
before. The surprising point was that she
appeared in a civilized dress. I had ex-
pected to see a red Indian clad in paint,
feathers and beads. But here was a prin-
cess indeed, just such a lady as I had fire.
quently seen in the boxes at the opera in
Lima.